jQuery - char counter doesn't work with paste event

Question

I wrote a jQuery character counter, it works when I type, but not when text is pasted. The function is executed upon paste, but count doesn't change. I am not sure if val() function is correct or really in synch with DOM. Any ideas?

counter = function() {
        $j("strong#status-field-char-counter").text($j("#Panel1messagesmessage").val().length); 
      alert('event');
     }; 


   $j("textarea").keyup ( counter );
   $j("textarea").bind('paste', counter);
   $j("#Panel1messagesmessage").bind('copy', counter);
   $j("#Panel1messagesmessage").bind('delete', counter);

Answer 1

textarea contents can be changed in a number of ways, instead of trying to catch them all, simply install a routine that checks the content every 0.5 second, like

$(function() {
   window.charCount = 0;
   setInterval(function() {
      var c = $("textarea").val().length;
      if(c != window.charCount) {
        window.charCount = c;
        $("span").html(window.charCount); 
      }
    }, 500);
})

Answer 2

I usually use keyup in combination with change

The change event fires when the textbox loses focus, but only if the value was modified since it received focus.

Answer 3

Quick play about:

 $("#textarea").change(function() {
          $("#status-field-char-counter").text($("#textarea").val().length);
     }).keyup(function() {
      $("#status-field-char-counter").text($("#textarea").val().length);
    });

HTML

 <p id="status-field-char-counter">here</p>
<input id="textarea" type="text" />